Vehicle and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A vehicle may include a detector configured to collect a biological signal of a driver and driving information of the vehicle; a communication device configured to communicate with an external server; a storage configured to store situation information and emotion tagged data received through the communication device and the biological signal of the driver; and a controller configured to acquire information about current emotion of the driver based on the biological signal of the driver, acquire information about inclination of the driver based on the driving information of the vehicle, extract emotion information corresponding to a current situation of the driver and the inclination of the driver from the emotion tagged data, compare the extracted emotion information with the current emotion information of the driver, and extract a primary situation factor having an influence on the emotion of the driver based on the comparison result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No.10-2018-0095870 filed on Aug. 17, 2018, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein forall purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle and control method thereof,which increases the accuracy of detection of the driver's emotion inautomatically detecting the driver's emotion by determining whether thedetected driver's emotion has appeared due to a specific situationassociated with the operation of the vehicle or other factors.

Discussion of Related Art

As artificial intelligence (AI) is provided in modern vehicles,technologies for operating in a response to the driver's emotion areemerging. For example, technologies for changing in-vehicle environmentsor providing driving routes to reflect the driver's emotion areemerging.

However, since the conventional technologies provide feedback in aresponse to only the driver's emotion obtained from biological signalsof the driver without taking the driver's specific situation intoaccount, they may not grasp what makes the driver have such emotion.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section isonly for enhancement of understanding of the general background of theinvention and may not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form ofsuggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to aperson skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing avehicle and control method thereof, which increases the accuracy ofdetection of the driver's emotion in automatically detecting thedriver's emotion by determining whether the detected driver's emotionhas appeared due to a specific situation associated with the operationof the vehicle or other factors.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a vehicle isprovided. The vehicle may include a detector configured to collect abiological signal of a driver and driving information related to thevehicle; a communication device configured to communicate with anexternal server; a storage configured to store situation information andemotion tagged data received through the communication device and thebiological signal of the driver; and a controller configured to acquireinformation related to current emotion of the driver based on thebiological signal of the driver, acquire information related toinclination of the driver based on the driving information related tothe vehicle, extract emotion information corresponding to a currentsituation of the driver and the inclination of the driver from theemotion tagged data, compare the extracted emotion information with thecurrent emotion information related to the driver, and extract a primarysituation factor having an influence on the emotion of the driver basedon the comparison result.

The controller may extract emotion information related to other drivershaving the same inclination as the inclination of the driver in relationto the current situation as emotion information corresponding to thecurrent situation of the driver and the inclination of the driver, anddetermine whether the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver.

The controller may be configured to control information related toemotion of the driver in the current situation to be sent for thestorage or the external server to update the emotion tagged data, whenthe extracted emotion information does not match the information relatedto the current emotion of the driver.

The controller may extract the primary situation factor having theinfluence on the emotion of the driver from the emotion tagged data,when the extracted emotion information matches the information relatedto the current emotion of the driver.

The controller may assign a weight to each situation factor included inthe current situation information, and determine that the informationrelated to the current emotion of the driver is different from theextracted emotion information when a weight assigned to other situationfactor is greater than a weight assigned to the primary situationfactor.

The controller may be configured to control the information related tothe current emotion of the driver determined to be different from theextracted emotion information and the current situation information tobe sent for the external server to update the emotion tagged data.

The controller may generate a driving route to lead the current emotionof the driver to a target emotion based on at least one primarysituation factor.

The vehicle may further include a display configured to display at leastone of the current situation information, the extracted emotioninformation, and the driving route in a screen under the control of thecontroller.

The vehicle may further include an input device configured to receivethe target emotion from the driver.

The current situation information may include at least one of currentlocation, current time, traffic condition information, and speed of thevehicle.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a controlmethod of vehicle is provided. The method may include collecting abiological signal of a driver and driving information related to avehicle; receiving situation information and emotion tagged data from anexternal server; acquiring information related to current emotion of thedriver based on the biological signal of the driver; acquiringinformation related to inclination of the driver based on the drivinginformation related to the vehicle; and extracting emotion informationcorresponding to a current situation of the driver and the inclinationof the driver from the emotion tagged data; comparing the extractedemotion information with the current emotion information related to thedriver; and extracting a primary situation factor having an influence onthe emotion of the driver based on the comparison result.

The extracting of the emotion information may include extracting emotioninformation related to other drivers having the same inclination as theinclination of the driver in relation to the current situation asemotion information corresponding to the current situation of the driverand the inclination of the driver, and wherein the comparing theextracted emotion information with the current emotion informationrelated to the driver may include determining whether the extractedemotion information matches the information related to the currentemotion of the driver.

The method may further include sending information related to emotion ofthe driver in the current situation to the external server when theextracted emotion information does not match the information related tothe current emotion of the driver.

The extracting a primary situation factor may include extracting theprimary situation factor having the influence on the emotion of thedriver from the emotion tagged data, when the extracted emotioninformation matches the information related to the current emotion ofthe driver.

The comparing the extracted emotion information with the current emotioninformation related to the driver may further include assigning a weightto each situation factor included in the current situation information,and determining that the information related to the current emotion ofthe driver is different from the extracted emotion information when aweight assigned to other situation factor is greater than a weightassigned to the primary situation factor.

The method may further include sending the information related to thecurrent emotion of the driver determined to be different from theextracted emotion information and the current situation information tothe external server.

The method may further include creating a driving route to lead thecurrent emotion of the driver to a target emotion based on at least oneprimary situation factor.

The method may further include displaying at least one of the currentsituation information, the extracted emotion information, and thedriving route.

The method may further include receiving the target emotion from thedriver.

The current situation information may include at least one of currentlocation, current time, traffic condition information, and speed of thevehicle.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other featuresand advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in moredetail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, andthe following Detailed Description, which together serve to explaincertain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the external of a vehicle, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows the internal of a vehicle, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of a vehicle, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a controller of a vehicle in detail,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a table showing information related to correlations betweenbiological signals and emotional factors;

FIG. 6 shows an emotion model;

FIG. 7 is a table for explaining emotion tagged data;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining how a driving route is generatedbased on primary situation factors;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a vehicle,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a vehicle,according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining relations between a vehicle and anexternal server, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

It may be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily toscale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of variousfeatures illustrative of the basic principles of the present invention.The specific design features of the present invention as includedherein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations,locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particularlyintended application and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent partsof the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described below. While the presentinvention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodimentsof the present invention, it will be understood that the presentdescription is not intended to limit the present invention(s) to thoseexemplary embodiments. On the other hand, the present invention(s)is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, but also various alternatives, modifications,equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

Like numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. Notall elements of embodiments of the present invention will be described,and description of what are commonly known in the art or what overlapeach other in the exemplary embodiments will be omitted. The terms asused throughout the specification, such as “˜part”, “˜module”,“˜member”, “˜block”, etc., may be implemented in software and/orhardware, and a plurality of “˜parts”, “˜modules”, “˜members”, or“˜blocks” may be implemented in a single element, or a single “˜part”,“˜module”, “˜member”, or “˜block” may include a plurality of elements.

It will be further understood that the term “connect” or its derivativesrefer both to direct and indirect connection, and the indirectconnection may include a connection over a wireless communicationnetwork.

The term “include (or including)” or “comprise (or comprising)” isinclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecitedelements or method steps, unless otherwise mentioned.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third,etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions,layers and/or sections may not be limited by these terms. These termsare only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer orsection from another region, layer or section.

The terminology used herein is for describing particular embodimentsonly and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. It is to beunderstood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Reference numerals used for method steps are just used for convenienceof explanation, but not to limit an order of the steps. Thus, unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise, the written order may be practicedotherwise.

The principle and embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed with reference to accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the external of a vehicle, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a vehicle 10 in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention may include wheels 12 and 13 formoving the vehicle 10, doors 15 for shielding the internal of thevehicle 10 from the outside, a front window 16 through which the drivermay see a view ahead of the vehicle 10, and side mirrors 14L, 14R forhelping the driver see areas behind and to the sides of the vehicle 10.

The wheels 12 and 13 may include front wheels 12 provided in a frontportion of the vehicle 10 and rear wheels 13 provided in a rear portionof the vehicle 10, and a driving system disposed within the vehicle 10may provide turning force to the front wheels 12 or rear wheels 13 tomove the vehicle 10 forward or backward thereof. The driving system maycorrespond to a motor that produces the turning force from electricalpower supplied from a storage battery or a combustion engine that burnsa fuel to generate the turning force.

The doors 15 are pivotally attached onto the left and right sides of thevehicle 10, and opened for the driver or a passenger to get in and outof the vehicle 10 and closed for shielding the internal of the vehicle10 from the outside. Handles 17 may be mounted on the external surfaceof the vehicle 10 to open or close the doors 15.

The front window 16 is mounted on the upper front of the main body forallowing the driver to obtain views ahead of the vehicle 10. The sidemirrors 14L and 14R include the left side mirror 14L and the right sidemirror 14R placed on the left and right sides of the vehicle 10,respectively, for helping the driver obtain views behind and to thesides of the vehicle 10.

Furthermore, headlamps 11 may be disposed on the left side 11L and theright side 11R of the vehicle 10 to secure the front view of the vehicle10.

Furthermore, the vehicle 10 may include detection devices, such as aproximity sensor for detecting an obstacle or other vehicle around thevehicle 10, a rain sensor for detecting whether it is raining and anamount of rainfall, a rotations per minute (rpm) sensor for detectingrpm, a positioning sensor for receiving global positioning system (GPS)signals to detect a current location of the vehicle 10, a speed sensorfor detecting a state of motion of the vehicle 10.

The proximity sensor may send out detection signals from the side orrear of the vehicle 10 and receive a reflection signal reflected from anobstruction or other vehicle. Based on the waveform of the receivedreflection signal, the vehicle 10 may determine whether there is anothervehicle or obstruction behind and to the sides of the vehicle 100 andwhere the vehicle or obstruction is.

FIG. 2 shows the internal of a vehicle, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the center area of a dashboard 26, there may bea navigation system 25 for displaying various videos or images alongwith driving information related to the vehicle 10.

The navigation system 25 may provide a route to a destination or mapinformation related to a location for the driver. Devices having suchfunctions may be typically called a ‘navigation system’, but alsoreferred to as various terms that are used by people of ordinary skillin the art.

The navigation system 25 may include a display for displaying variousimages and videos, which include driving information related to thevehicle 10.

Moreover, a center input device 33 of a jog shuttle type may be providedbetween a driver's seat 22L and a passenger's seat 22R. The driver mayinput a control command by turning or pressing the center input device33 or pushing the center input device 33 to left, right, up or down.

A speaker 23 for outputting sound may be provided within the vehicle 10.The speaker 23 may output sound required in performing audio, video,navigation, and other additional functions. The speaker 23 (23L, 23R) isprovided in front of each of the driver's seat 22L and the passenger'sseat 22R in FIG. 2, without being limited thereto. For example, speakersmay be provided in various positions within the vehicle 10.

A steering wheel 27 may be mounted on the dashboard 26 in front of thedriver's seat 22L, and a key hole 28 may be formed in an area near thesteering wheel 27 for a remote-control device, e.g., a key fob, to beinserted thereto. Once the remote-control device to turn on/off theignition of the vehicle 10 is inserted or authentication between theremote-control device and the vehicle 10 is completed through a wirelesscommunication network, the vehicle 10 may be connected to an externalterminal.

Furthermore, there may be a start button 29 located on the dashboard 26to start/stop the engine of the vehicle 10. When the remote-controldevice is inserted into the key hole 28 or authentication issuccessfully completed between the external terminal and the vehicle 10over a wireless communication network, the engine of the vehicle 10 maybe started by the user pressing the start button 29.

The vehicle 10 may also include an air conditioner to perform heating orcooling and release the heated or cooled air through vents 21 to controlthe temperature within the vehicle 10. The vents 21 (21L, 21R) are shownin FIG. 2 to be in front of the driver's seat 22L and the passenger'sseat 22R. However, embodiments of the present invention are not limitedthereto, and the vents 21 may be provided in other various positionswithin the vehicle 10.

Various biological signal detection devices may be provided to determineemotion of a driver who gets on the vehicle 10. The biological signaldetection devices may include a camera 35 for recognizing the face orhand gestures of the driver, electrodes 37 for measuring heartbeat, amicrophone for performing voice recognition, and/or the like.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of a vehicle, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the vehicle 10 may include a detector 100 forcollecting biological signals of the driver and driving informationrelated to the vehicle 10, a communication device 200 for communicatingwith an external server 50, a storage 300 for storing informationcollected by the detector 100 and information received through thecommunication device 200, an input device 400 for receiving inputs fromthe driver, a display 500 for displaying at least one of situationinformation, information related to the driver's emotion, and a drivingroute, and a controller 600 for controlling operation of the detector100, communication device 200, storage 300, input device 400, anddisplay 500.

The controller 600 may include at least one memory for storing a programfor carrying out the aforementioned and following operations, and atleast one processor for executing the program. The memory and theprocessor included in the controller 600 may be integrated in a singlechip or physically separated. Embodiments of the present invention willnow be described in detail.

The detector 100 may include at least one of a galvanic skin response(GSR) sensor for measuring electrical conductivity of the user's skin, askin temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the user'sskin, a heart rate (HR) sensor for measuring the heart rate of the user,an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor for measuring brain waves of theuser, a voice recognition sensor for measuring the voice signal of theuser, a surface analyzer for analyzing a facial expression of the user,and an eye tracker for tracking the pupil. The detector 100 is notlimited to the aforementioned sensors, but may include any other sensorsthat are able to measure or collect biological signals of a human.

The detector 100 may further include a plurality of sensors forcollecting driving information related to the vehicle 10. The drivinginformation related to the vehicle 10 may include information related tosteering angle and a torque of the steering wheel 27 manipulated by thedriver, instantaneous acceleration, frequency and strength of the driverstepping on the accelerator, frequency and strength of the driverstepping on the brake, the number and extent of lane deviations whilethe vehicle 10 is driven, speed of the vehicle 10 by road type(expressway or local road), a distance to a vehicle in front, and anobservance rate of car-to-car distance, etc.

Inclination of the driver observed from the driving information relatedto the vehicle may appear as aggressive, modest, impatient, relaxed,active, passive, etc.

The detector 100 may also collect information related to an internalsituation of the vehicle 10. The internal situation information mayinclude whether a fellow passenger is on board, information related to aconversation between the driver and a fellow passenger, multimedia playinformation, information related to brightness inside the vehicle,information related to a temperature inside the vehicle, etc.

The communication device 200 may communicate with the external server 50to send or receive various information. The communication device 200 mayreceive outside situation information and emotion tagged data from theexternal device 50.

The outside situation information may include information related to acurrent location, current time, weather, traffic conditions, roadconditions, events that has occurred on the road on which the vehicle 10is driven. The traffic condition information may include informationrelated to whether the current traffic condition is good or bad, and theroad condition information may include information related to trafficlights, crosswalks, road type and feature, and speed limits on the road.

Hereinafter, the term ‘situation information’ is used as a general termthat collectively refers to the driving information related to thevehicle, inside situation information, and outside situationinformation.

The emotion tagged data refers to data obtained by collating informationrelated to emotions expressed by a plurality of drivers in particularsituations. The emotion tagged data will be described in more detaillater in connection with FIG. 7.

The communication device 200 may also receive information related tocorrelations between biological signals of the driver and emotionfactors, and an emotion model from the external server 50. Theinformation related to correlations between biological signals of thedriver and emotion factors will be described later in connection withFIG. 5, and the emotion model will be described later in connection withFIG. 6.

The communication device 200 may send or receive data in variouscommunication schemes. For example, the communication device 200 may usewireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, Zigbee, ultra-wide band (UWB)communication, near field communication (NFC) schemes.

The storage 300 may store biological signals of the driver collected bythe detector 100, outside situation information, emotion tagged data,information related to correlations between biological signals of thedriver and emotion factors, information related to the driver's emotion,and emotion models. The information stored in the storage 300 may besent to the controller 160 or to the external server 50 through thecommunication device 200.

The input device 400 may receive an input from the driver. The inputdevice 400 may correspond to any device configured for receiving aninput from the driver, including a touch panel of the navigation system25 and the center input device 33 of a jog shuttle type as describedabove in connection with FIG. 2. The driver may input informationrelated to his or her current emotion, information related to a targetemotion, and/or a command related to an operation of the vehicle 10through the input device 400.

The display 500 may display the current situation information, theinformation related to the driver's current emotion, emotion informationextracted from the emotion tagged data, a driving route, and/or othervarious types of information. A screen displayed on the display 500 iscontrolled by the controller 600.

The display 500 may include a panel, and the panel may be one of acathode ray tube (CRT) panel, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, alight emitting diode (LED) panel, an organic LED (OLED) panel, a plasmadisplay panel (PDP), and a field emission display (FED) panel.

The display 500 may also include a touch panel for receiving touches ofthe driver as inputs. In the instant case where the display 500 includesthe touch panel, the display 500 is configured as the input device 400as well.

The controller 600 may acquire information related to the driver'scurrent emotion based on biological signals of the driver andinformation related to an inclination of the driver based on the drivinginformation related to the vehicle, extract emotion informationcorresponding to the current situation and inclination of the driverfrom the emotion tagged data to compare the emotion information with theinformation related to the driver's current emotion, and update theemotion tagged data according to the comparison result.

The information related to the inclination of the driver may be acquiredfrom the driving information related to the vehicle collected by thedetector 100, as described above. The inclination of the driver observedfrom the driving information related to the vehicle may appear asaggressive, modest, impatient, relaxed, active, passive, etc. How toacquire the information related to the driver's current emotion will bedescribed later in connection with FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

The controller 600 may extract emotion information related to otherdrivers in relation to the current situation, who have the sameinclination as the inclination of the driver, from the emotion taggeddata, and determine whether the extracted emotion informationcorresponds to information related to the driver's current emotion.Since the emotion information related to other drivers who have the sameinclination as the inclination of the driver is extracted and comparedwith the information related to the driver's current emotion, confidencein the relation between the current situation and the driver's currentemotion may increase.

When the extracted emotion information does not match the informationrelated to the driver's current emotion, the controller 600 may controlthe information related to the driver's emotion in the current situationto be sent for the external server 50 to update the emotion tagged data.This is for the external server 50 to learn emotions of the driver undera particular situation.

On the other hand, when the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the driver's current emotion, the controller 600may extract a primary situation factor that influences the emotion ofthe driver from the emotion tagged data.

The primary situation factor refers to common situation factors amongsituation factors causing the same emotion expressed by each of otherdrivers who have the same inclination as that of the driver at areference place or in a reference condition.

Furthermore, the controller 600 may assign a priority to each situationfactor included in the situation information and extract commonsituation factors in a predetermined range of priorities as the primarysituation factors. The primary situation factors will be described inmore detail later in connection with FIG. 7.

The controller 600 may further assign a weight to each situation factorincluded in the current situation information, and determine that theinformation related to the driver's current emotion is different fromthe emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged data when aweight assigned to other situation factor is greater than the weightassigned to the primary situation factor.

For example, even when information related to the driver's currentemotion and the emotion information extracted from the emotion taggeddata corresponding to the current situation of the driver all correspondto anger, the anger expressed by the driver may be caused from aconversation with the fellow passenger. When a weight assigned to asituation factor of the conversation with the fellow passenger isgreater than a weight assigned to the primary situation factor, theanger of the driver may be determined to be caused not by the primarysituation factor but by the conversation with the fellow passenger.Accordingly, in the instant case, the information related to thedriver's current emotion may not be considered to match the emotioninformation extracted from the emotion tagged data.

Weights assigned to the situation factors may be set in advance by thedriver or set in advance based on the inclination of the driver.

The controller 600 may generate a driving route to lead the driver'scurrent emotion to the target emotion based on at least one of theprimary situation factors. How to generate the driving route will bedescribed in more detail later in connection with FIG. 8.

Accordingly, the reliance of the information related to the driver'scurrent emotion on information related to a particular situation may bemore accurately understood by assigning a weight to each of thesituation factors included in the current situation information andcomparing the information related to the driver's emotion with theemotion information extracted from the emotion tagged data based on theprimary situation factors. In other words, whether the current emotionalchange of the driver is attributed to a situation associated with theoperation of the vehicle or to other situation may be determined.

The vehicle 10 may generate a more optimal driving route by notreflecting the driver's emotional change caused by situationsunassociated with driving in creating a driving route to make thedriver's emotion better.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a controller of a vehicle in detail,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the controller 600 may include an emotion analysismodule 610, a driver's inclination analysis module 620, a validityanalysis module 630, a situation factor extraction module 640, and adriving route creation module 650.

The emotion analysis module 610 may acquire information related tocurrent emotion of the driver based on a biological signal of the drivercollected by the detector 100. The emotion analysis module 610 may alsoacquire information related to correlations between biological signalsand situation factors as shown in FIG. 5, and information related toemotion of the driver using an emotion model as shown in FIG. 6.

The driver's inclination analysis module 620 may acquire informationrelated to inclination of the driver by analyzing driving informationrelated to the vehicle collected by the detector 100. The drivinginformation related to the vehicle 10 may include information related tosteering angle and a torque of the steering wheel 27 manipulated by thedriver, instantaneous acceleration, frequency and strength of the driverstepping on the accelerator, frequency and strength of the driverstepping on the brake, the number and extent of lane deviations whilethe vehicle 10 is driven, speed of the vehicle 10 by road type(expressway or local road), a distance to a vehicle in front, and anobservance rate of car-to-car distance, etc. Inclination of the driverobserved from the driving information related to the vehicle may appearas aggressive, modest, impatient, relaxed, active, passive, etc.

The validity analysis module 630 may extract emotion informationcorresponding to a current situation of the driver and the driver'sinclination from the emotion tagged data and compare the emotioninformation with the information related to the current emotion of thedriver. The validity analysis module 630 may extract emotion informationrelated to other drivers having the same inclination as the inclinationof the driver in relation to the current situation from the emotiontagged data and determine whether the extracted emotion informationmatches the information related to the current emotion of the driver.

The situation factor extraction module 640 may, when the emotioninformation extracted from the emotion tagged data matches informationrelated to the current emotion of the driver, extract a primarysituation factor that influences the emotion of the driver from theemotion tagged data. Furthermore, the situation factor extraction module640 may assign a weight to each of the situation factors included in thecurrent situation information.

The validity analysis module 630 may determine that the informationrelated to the driver's current emotion is different from the emotioninformation extracted from the emotion tagged data when a weightassigned to other situation factor is greater than a weight assigned tothe primary situation factor. Accordingly, the reliance of theinformation related to the driver's current emotion on informationrelated to a particular situation may be more accurately understood byassigning a weight to each of the situation factors included in thecurrent situation information and comparing the information related tothe driver's emotion with the emotion information extracted from theemotion tagged data based on the primary situation factors.

The driving route creation module 650 may generate a driving route tolead the driver's current emotion to the target emotion based on atleast one of the primary situation factors.

FIG. 5 is a table showing information related to correlations betweenbiological signals and emotional factors.

Referring to FIG. 5, the controller 600 may obtain information relatedto the driver's emotion using biological signals of the driver collectedby the detector 100 and information related to correlations between thebiological signals of the driver and emotion factors stored in thestorage 300.

In FIG. 5, values of correlations of a GSR signal with disgust and angeremotion factors are 0.875 and 0.775, respectively, which may beinterpreted that the GSR signal has high relevance to disgust and angeremotion factors. Accordingly, the biological signal of the drivercollected by a GSR measurer may become a basis to determine that thedriver's emotion corresponds to a feeling of anger or a feeling ofdisgust.

In a case of a joy emotion factor, the value of a correlation with theGSR signal is relatively low, which may be interpreted that the joyemotion factor has low relevance to the GSR signal.

Furthermore, values of correlations of an EEG signal with anger and fearemotion factors are 0.864 and 0.878, respectively, which may beinterpreted that the EEG signal has higher relevance to the anger andfear emotion factors than to other emotion factors. Accordingly, abiological signal of the driver collected by an EEG measurer may becomea basis to determine that the driver's emotion corresponds to anger orfear.

In the present way, the controller 600 may obtain information related tothe driver's emotion using the information related to correlationsbetween biological signals of the driver and emotion factors. Pieces ofthe information shown in FIG. 5 are only experimental results, which mayvary by experimental condition.

FIG. 6 shows an emotion model.

Referring to FIG. 6, an emotion model is shown on a graph asclassification of emotions of the driver appearing in a response tobiological signals of the driver. The emotion model classifies emotionsof the driver with respect to predetermined emotion axes. The emotionaxes may be determined based on emotions measured by sensors. Forexample, emotion axis 1 may correspond to positivity which may bemeasured by analyzing voice or facial expression of the driver, andemotion axis 2 may correspond to excitability or activity which may bemeasured by GSR or EEG.

When an emotion of the driver has high positivity and high excitability,the emotion may be classified into emotions 1 and 2. On the other hand,when an emotion of the driver has negative positivity, i.e., negativity,and high excitability, the emotion may be classified into emotions 3 and4.

This emotion model may be a Russell emotion model. The Russel emotionmodel may be represented in a two dimensional xy-plane graph,classifying emotions into eight categories of joy at 0 degree,excitement at 45 degrees, arousal at 90 degrees, misery at 135 degrees,displeasure at 180 degrees, depression at 225 degrees, sleepiness at 270degrees, and relaxation at 315 degrees. The eight categories have atotal of 28 emotions, similar ones of which belong to each of eightcategories.

The emotion model may be received from the external server 50 throughthe communication device 200. The controller 600 may map the informationrelated to the driver's emotion acquired using the information relatedto correlations between biological signals of the driver and emotionfactors to the emotion model, and control the display 500 to display theinformation related to the driver's emotion mapped to the emotion model.

The emotion model may also be used in setting a target emotion. Forexample, the information related to the driver's current emotionacquired from a result of analysis of biological signals of the drivermay be mapped to emotion 5 on the emotion model. The driver's emotioncorresponding to the emotion 5 may be an emotion having negativity andlow excitability. Accordingly, the controller 600 may set the targetemotion to an emotion corresponding to emotion 2 on the emotion model tochange the driver's emotion to an emotion having positivity and highexcitability. In a case that the driver's current emotion has highpositivity, the controller 600 may control the current emotion to remainthe same. In other words, the target emotion may be variously set basedon the situation and/or current emotion of the driver.

The target emotion may also be set by an input from the driver. Thedriver may input a target emotion he/she wants through the input device400.

FIG. 7 is a table for explaining emotion tagged data.

Referring to FIG. 7, the emotion tagged data is data obtained bycollating information related to emotions expressed by a plurality ofdrivers in particular situations. The external server 50 collects andsaves information related to emotions expressed by a plurality ofdrivers at particular time and places.

For example, the external server 50 may collect and save driver A'sanger expressed in a severe traffic jam at Gangnam intersection at 2p.m., driver B's anger expressed in a severe traffic jam at the Gangnamintersection at 4 p.m., driver C's anger expressed in a severe trafficjam at the Gangnam intersection at 6 p.m., and driver D's happinessexpressed in a smooth traffic condition at the Gangnam intersection at 2a.m.

In this regard, the situation information may include the place, time,traffic condition, acceleration information, the number of trafficlights, weather, an AVN operation state, etc., as situation factors.

Although FIG. 7 shows information related to emotions expressed by aplurality of drivers at the same place, the Gangnam intersection, atdifferent hours, collection of emotions is not limited thereto andinformation related to various emotions expressed by a plurality ofdrivers in various situations may be collected.

In FIG. 7, the drivers A, B, and C have the same inclination as that ofthe driver of the vehicle 10. The controller 600 may extract informationrelated to emotions expressed in a particular situation by other drivershaving the same inclination as that of the driver from the emotiontagged data received from the external server 50. The particularsituation refers to the current situation of the driver.

Primary situation factors may be extracted in the following method.

Common situation factors may be extracted as the primary situationfactors from situation factors that cause the same emotion expressed byeach of the other drivers who have the same inclination as that of thedriver at a reference place or in a reference condition.

For example, unlike what is shown in FIG. 7, driver A may express angerin a situation of heavy traffic, bumper-to-bumper driving, many trafficlights, and loud background noise at the Gangnam intersection at around2 p.m. In the instant case, the anger may be attributed to the heavytraffic, bumper-to-bumper driving, many traffic lights, and loudbackground noise, which may be situation factors for the emotion ofdriver A.

Driver B may express anger in a situation of heavy traffic,bumper-to-bumper driving, many traffic lights, high humidity, and hightemperature at the Gangnam intersection at around 2 p.m. In the instantcase, the anger may be attributed to the heavy traffic, bumper-to-bumperdriving, many traffic lights, high humidity, and high temperature, whichmay be situation factors for the emotion of driver B.

Driver C may express anger in a situation of heavy traffic,bumper-to-bumper driving, many traffic lights, and road repair work atthe Gangnam intersection at around 2 p.m. In the instant case, the angermay be attributed to the heavy traffic, bumper-to-bumper driving, manytraffic lights, and road repair work, which may be situation factors forthe emotion of driver C.

In the present example, all the drivers A, B, and C who have the sameinclination as that of the driver express anger at the reference place,the Gangnam intersection, and among the situation factors that cause theanger, the common situation factors, which are heavy traffic, thebumper-to-bumper driving, and the many traffic lights, may be extractedas the primary situation factors.

Furthermore, a priority may be assigned to each situation factorincluded in the situation information and common situation factors in apredetermined range of priorities may be extracted as the primarysituation factors. For example, a traffic condition, a road type, acurrent location, and weather may be assigned higher priorities in thelisted order. In a case that the primary situation factors are set to beextracted from the situation factors in the top three priorities and theplurality of drivers commonly assign higher priorities for the trafficcondition, the road type, and the current location in the listed order,the traffic condition, the road type, and the current location may beextracted as the primary situation factors.

It is assumed herein that the priorities assigned by the plurality ofdrivers who have the same inclination for the situation factors are thesame or similar.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining how a driving route is generatedbased on primary situation factors.

Referring to FIG. 8, the driver is now feeling angry at the Gangnamintersection, and the anger may be attributed to a heavy traffic jam. Inthe instant case, the primary situation factors may be extracted to bethe current location and traffic condition. The controller 600 maygenerate a driving route based on the primary situation factors thatcause the negative emotion felt by the driver to change the negativefeeling to a positive feeling. For example, the controller 600 maygenerate a driving route by changing stops en route to a destination. Asshown in FIG. 8, the controller 600 generates a driving route so thatthe driver may feel pleasant by driving on a nearby expressway having amoderate traffic condition.

Accordingly, the vehicle 10 provides not only the simple shortest routeor a route requiring shortest time to a destination but also a drivingroute to make the driver's emotion better, giving the driver theexperience of a more pleasant drive.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a vehicle,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, the communication device 200 of the vehicle 10receives outside situation information and emotion tagged data from theexternal device 50, in 701. The detector 100 of the vehicle 10 maycollect biological signals of the driver, driving information related tothe vehicle, and inside situation information. The controller 600acquires information related to a current emotion of the driver frombiological signals of the driver, information related to inclination ofthe driver from the driving information related to the vehicle, andcurrent situation information by collating outside situationinformation, inside situation information, and the information relatedto driving of the vehicle, in 702.

Subsequently, the controller 600 extracts emotion informationcorresponding to the inclination of the driver and the current situationfrom the emotion tagged data, in 703. The controller 600 determineswhether the emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged datamatches the information related to the current emotion of the driver, in704. When the emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged datadoes not match the information related to the current emotion of thedriver, the controller 600 controls the information related to thedriver's emotion in the current situation of the driver to be sent tothe storage 300 and the external server 50 to update the emotion taggeddata, in 705.

Otherwise, when the emotion information extracted from the emotiontagged data matches the information related to the current emotion ofthe driver, the controller 600 extracts a primary situation factor thatinfluences the emotion of the driver from the emotion tagged data, in706. Subsequently, the controller 600 generates a driving route to leadthe current emotion of the driver to a target emotion based on at leastone primary situation factor in 707, and controls the display 500 todisplay at least one of the current situation information, the extractedemotion information, and the driving route in 708.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a control method of a vehicle,according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, the communication device 200 of the vehicle 10receives outside situation information and emotion tagged data from theexternal device 50, in 801. The detector 100 of the vehicle 10 maycollect biological signals of the driver, driving information related tothe vehicle, and inside situation information. The controller 600acquires information related to a current emotion of the driver frombiological signals of the driver, information related to inclination ofthe driver from the driving information related to the vehicle, andcurrent situation information by collating outside situationinformation, inside situation information, and the information relatedto driving of the vehicle, in 802.

Subsequently, the controller 600 extracts emotion informationcorresponding to the inclination of the driver and the current situationfrom the emotion tagged data, in 803. The controller 600 determineswhether the emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged datamatches the information related to the current emotion of the driver, in804. When the emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged datadoes not match the information related to the current emotion of thedriver, the controller 600 controls the information related to thedriver's emotion in the current situation of the driver to be sent tothe storage 300 and the external server 50 to update the emotion taggeddata, in 812.

Otherwise, when the emotion information extracted from the emotiontagged data matches the information related to the current emotion ofthe driver, the controller 600 extracts a primary situation factor thatinfluences the emotion of the driver from the emotion tagged data, in805. The controller 600 assigns a weight to each of the situationfactors included in the current situation information in 806, andcompares weights assigned to the primary situation factor and the othersituation factors in 807.

When the weight of the primary situation factor is greater than weightsof other situation factors, the controller 600 generates a driving routeto lead the current emotion of the driver to a target emotion based onat least one primary situation factor in 808, and controls the display500 to display at least one of the current situation information, theextracted emotion information, and the driving route in 809.

Otherwise, when the weight assigned to other situation factor is greaterthan to the primary situation factor, the controller 600 determines thatthe information related to the current emotion of the driver isdifferent from the emotion information extracted from the emotion taggeddata in 810, and sends the information related to the driver's emotionin the current situation to the external server 50 to update the emotiontagged data in 812.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining relations between a vehicle and anexternal server, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 11, the external server 50 collects and stores outsidesituation information and emotion tagged data in 901 and sends them tothe vehicle 10 in 902.

The vehicle 10 may collect biological signals of the driver, drivinginformation related to the vehicle, and inside situation information.The vehicle 10 acquires information related to a current emotion of thedriver from biological signals of the driver, information related toinclination of the driver from the driving information related to thevehicle, and current situation information by collating outsidesituation information, inside situation information, and the informationrelated to driving of the vehicle, in 903.

Subsequently, the vehicle 10 extracts emotion information correspondingto the inclination of the driver and the current situation from theemotion tagged data, in 904. The vehicle 10 determines whether theemotion information extracted from the emotion tagged data matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver, in 905. Whenthe emotion information extracted from the emotion tagged data does notmatch the information related to the current emotion of the driver, thevehicle 10 sends the information related to the driver's emotion in thecurrent situation to the external server 50, in 906. The external server50 receives the information related to the driver's emotion in thecurrent situation to update the emotion tagged data, in 907.

Otherwise, when the emotion information extracted from the emotiontagged data matches the information related to the current emotion ofthe driver, the vehicle 10 extracts a primary situation factor thatinfluences the emotion of the driver from the emotion tagged data, in908. Subsequently, the vehicle 10 generates a driving route to lead thecurrent emotion of the driver to a target emotion based on at least oneprimary situation factor in 909, and displays at least one of thecurrent situation information, the extracted emotion information, andthe driving route on the display 500 in 910.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a vehicleand control method thereof may increase the accuracy of detection of thedriver's emotion in automatically detecting the driver's emotion bydetermining whether the detected driver's emotion has appeared due to aspecific situation associated with the operation of the vehicle or otherfactors.

Furthermore, a more optimal route for driving may be generated by notreflecting the driver's emotional change due to situations unassociatedwith driving in creating a driving route to make the driver's emotionbetter.

Meanwhile, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention may beimplemented in a form of recording media for storing instructions to beconducted by a computer. The instructions may be stored in a form ofprogram codes, and when executed by a processor, may generate programmodules to perform operation in the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention. The recording media may correspond to computer-readablerecording media.

The computer-readable recording medium includes any type of recordingmedium having data stored thereon which may be thereafter read by acomputer. For example, it may be a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic tape, amagnetic disk, a flash memory, an optical data storage device, etc.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appendedclaims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “up”, “down”,“upper”, “lower”, “upwards”, “downwards”, “front”, “rear”, “back”,“inside”, “outside”, “inwardly”, “outwardly”, “internal”, “external”,“inner”, “outer”, “forwards”, and “backwards” are used to describefeatures of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions ofsuch features as displayed in the figures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit thepresent invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described toexplain certain principles of the present invention and their practicalapplication, to enable others skilled in the art to make and utilizevarious exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well asvarious alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that thescope of the present invention be defined by the Claims appended heretoand their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle comprising: a detector configured tocollect a biological signal of a driver and driving information relatedto the vehicle; a communication device configured to communicate with anexternal server; a storage configured to store situation information andemotion tagged data received through the communication device and thebiological signal of the driver; and a controller configured to acquireinformation related to current emotion of the driver based on thebiological signal of the driver, acquire information related toinclination of the driver based on the driving information related tothe vehicle, extract emotion information corresponding to a currentsituation of the driver and the inclination of the driver from theemotion tagged data, compare the extracted emotion information with thecurrent emotion information related to the driver, and extract a primarysituation factor having an influence on the emotion of the driver basedon the comparison result.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to extract emotion information related to otherdrivers having a same inclination as the inclination of the driver inrelation to the current situation as emotion information correspondingto the current situation of the driver and the inclination of thedriver, and determine when the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver.
 3. The vehicleof claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to control informationrelated to emotion of the driver in the current situation to be sent forthe storage or the external server to update the emotion tagged data,when the extracted emotion information does not match the informationrelated to the current emotion of the driver.
 4. The vehicle of claim 2,wherein the controller is configured to extract the primary situationfactor having the influence on the emotion of the driver from theemotion tagged data, when the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver.
 5. The vehicleof claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to assign a weight toeach situation factor included in the current situation information, anddetermine that the information related to the current emotion of thedriver is different from the extracted emotion information when a weightassigned to other situation factor is greater than a weight assigned tothe primary situation factor.
 6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein thecontroller is configured to control the information related to thecurrent emotion of the driver determined to be different from theextracted emotion information and the current situation information tobe sent for the external server to update the emotion tagged data. 7.The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to generatea driving route to lead the current emotion of the driver to a targetemotion based on at least one primary situation factor.
 8. The vehicleof claim 7, further including: a display configured to display at leastone of the current situation information, the extracted emotioninformation, and the driving route in a screen under a control of thecontroller.
 9. The vehicle of claim 7, further including: an inputdevice configured to receive the target emotion from the driver.
 10. Thevehicle of claim 1, wherein the current situation information includesat least one of current location, current time, traffic conditioninformation, and speed of the vehicle.
 11. A control method of avehicle, the control method comprising: collecting, by a controller, abiological signal of a driver and driving information related to thevehicle; receiving, by the controller, situation information and emotiontagged data from an external server; acquiring, by the controller,information related to current emotion of the driver based on thebiological signal of the driver; acquiring, by the controller,information related to inclination of the driver based on the drivinginformation related to the vehicle; extracting, by the controller,emotion information corresponding to a current situation of the driverand the inclination of the driver from the emotion tagged data;comparing, by the controller, the extracted emotion information with thecurrent emotion information related to the driver; and extracting, bythe controller, a primary situation factor having an influence on theemotion of the driver based on the comparison result.
 12. The controlmethod of the vehicle of claim 11, wherein the extracting of the emotioninformation includes extracting emotion information related to otherdrivers having a same inclination as the inclination of the driver inrelation to the current situation as emotion information correspondingto the current situation of the driver and the inclination of thedriver, and wherein the comparing the extracted emotion information withthe current emotion information related to the driver includesdetermining when the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver.
 13. Thecontrol method of the vehicle of claim 12, further including: sendinginformation related to emotion of the driver in the current situation tothe external server when the extracted emotion information does notmatch the information related to the current emotion of the driver. 14.The control method of the vehicle of claim 12, wherein the extracting aprimary situation factor includes: extracting the primary situationfactor having the influence on the emotion of the driver from theemotion tagged data, when the extracted emotion information matches theinformation related to the current emotion of the driver.
 15. Thecontrol method of the vehicle of claim 14, wherein the comparing theextracted emotion information with the current emotion informationrelated to the driver further includes: assigning a weight to eachsituation factor included in the current situation information, anddetermining that the information related to the current emotion of thedriver is different from the extracted emotion information when a weightassigned to other situation factor is greater than a weight assigned tothe primary situation factor.
 16. The control method of the vehicle ofclaim 15, further including: sending the information related to thecurrent emotion of the driver determined to be different from theextracted emotion information and the current situation information tothe external server.
 17. The control method of the vehicle of claim 14,further including: creating a driving route to lead the current emotionof the driver to a target emotion based on at least one primarysituation factor.
 18. The control method of the vehicle of claim 17,further including: displaying at least one of the current situationinformation, the extracted emotion information, and the driving route.19. The control method of the vehicle of claim 17, further including:receiving the target emotion from the driver.
 20. The control method ofthe vehicle of claim 11, wherein the current situation informationincludes at least one of current location, current time, trafficcondition information, and speed of the vehicle.